a piece of broken glass of a vehicle at the site of a bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo by Rahmatullah Alizadah/Xinhua)
The US embassy in Kabul announced USD 266 million in new humanitarian assistance from the US Department of State and the US Agency for International Development (USAID)…reports Asian Lite News
US Charge d’ Affaires Ross Wilson on Saturday said that Washington is stepping up its engagement in Afghanistan through its additional USD 266 million assistance, which was recently announced by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Taking to Twitter, Wilson said that as part of its commitment, the US will provide essential health care, food aid, and other supplies to the millions of Afghans.
“We are stepping up our engagement in Afghanistan, including humanitarian assistance. This commitment will provide lifesaving protection, shelter, livelihoods opportunities, essential health care, food aid, water and other supplies to the 18M Afghans in need,” Wilson tweeted.
In a press release, the US embassy in Kabul announced USD 266 million in new humanitarian assistance from the US Department of State and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The total US humanitarian aid for Afghanistan now stands at nearly USD 3.9 billion since 2002.
“The US Embassy in Kabul remains a stalwart friend to the government and people of Afghanistan, and will build upon two decades of assistance in many fields, including humanitarian relief as well as a variety of cooperative projects in infrastructure, gender, education, agriculture, health, security, democracy, counter-narcotics, and anticorruption,” the release said.
It further said that the humanitarian aid contributions of the United States and their international partners seek to address the needs of an estimated 18 million Afghans who are suffering due to poverty, hunger, COVID-19, and displacement.
Meanwhile, Two police chiefs and six soldiers were killed in an attack by the Taliban in the Jugla district of the Baghlan province in Afghanistan, TOLOnews reported on Saturday.
According to an anonymous security official speaking to the Afghan broadcaster, the attack started after midnight on Friday and the clashes between the security forces and the Taliban continued until the early hours of Saturday morning.
The district is under threat to fall under Taliban control if reinforcements will not be sent, the official added.
In the past 24 hours at least 10 provinces have faced clashes between government forces and the Taliban in the country.
Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid confirmed the clashes on Twitter and said that ten Afghans had been killed and eight injured. (ANI/Sputnik)
According to a Pentagon report, the number included civilian casualties in operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria….reports Asian Lite News
The United States military took responsibility for the death of 23 civilians in foreign war zones last year, media reported.
According to a Pentagon report, the number included civilian casualties in operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria.
The Department of Defense (DoD) “assesses that there were approximately 23 civilians killed and approximately 10 civilians injured during 2020 as a result of US military operations,” reports quoted an annual report required by Congress since 2018.
Most of the civilian casualties were in Afghanistan, where the Pentagon said it was responsible for 20 deaths, according to the public section of the report.
Meanwhile, as Washington speed-up to complete the withdrawal of its troops ahead of September 11, the US military will be handing over its main Bagram Air Base to Afghan forces in about 20 days, an official said.
“I can confirm we will hand over Bagram Air Base,” a US defense official told France-based news agency without specifying when the transfer would take place, reported Afghanistan Times.
a piece of broken glass of a vehicle at the site of a bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo by Rahmatullah Alizadah/Xinhua)
An Afghan security official said the handover was expected in about 20 days and the defense ministry had set up special committees to manage it.
The base, the centre for nationwide command and air operations for the past two decades, also houses a prison that held thousands of Taliban and terrorists over the years, reported Afghanistan Times.
The vast base, built by the Soviets in the 1980s, is the biggest military facility used by US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, with tens of thousands of troops stationed there during the peak of America’s military involvement in the violence-wracked country.
Meanwhile, Washington has already handed over several military bases to Afghan forces before May 1, when it began accelerating the final withdrawal of troops, reported Afghanistan Times.
Last month it completed the withdrawal from Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan, once the second-largest foreign military base in the country.
The US withdrawal comes despite bloody clashes across the country between the Taliban and Afghan forces.
Peace talks were launched in September in Qatar, but so far have failed to strike any deal to end a war that has killed tens of thousands of people over nearly two decades. (with inputs from ANI)
“We are ending our military mission in Afghanistan, but we will continue to provide support to the Afghans,” said Stoltenberg…reports Asian Lite News
At a NATO Foreign Minister’s virtual meeting at Brussels on Tuesday (local time), Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the organisation will continue to support Afghanistan’s security forces even after the planned withdrawal this year of the alliance’s 9,600 troops.
“A civilian presence in the capital Kabul will be maintained to provide advice to security institutions,” said Jens Stoltenberg, reported UAE based news portal The National News.
“We are ending our military mission in Afghanistan, but we will continue to provide support to the Afghans,” Stoltenberg said.
He said that NATO members were committed to decisions they made when announcing the alliance’s military withdrawal from the country after almost 20 years.
The military alliance was also planning to provide out-of-country training for Afghan special forces, reported The National News.
“We will also help to support the Afghan security forces by now working on how we can provide out-of-country training, especially for the Afghan special operation forces,” said Stoltenberg.
“We are working on how we can support critical infrastructure, including the continued running of the international airport,” added Stoltenberg.
“This is of course important for NATO and NATO civilian staff in Kabul, but also for, overall, the larger international community.”
Last month, NATO announced it would withdraw its forces from Afghanistan this year (September 2021), despite fears that the Taliban could regain power.
The talks also looked at how NATO could bolster its collective defence and protect vital infrastructure, reported The National News.
“We also discussed concrete ways to sharpen our technological edge and prevent technological gaps among allies,” Stoltenberg said.
He told a press conference that NATO members were “considering [establishing] a defence innovation accelerator – a new centre to foster greater co-operation among allies on technology, underpinned with extra funding from nations that decide to participate”.
Stoltenberg said there was a broad agreement that “additional resources” were needed to tackle the challenges faced by a more “unpredictable” and “contested world”.
NATO has a “historic opportunity” to strengthen the transatlantic relationship, he added.
US President Joe Biden has sought to rebuild ties with NATO and the EU after four tumultuous years under former president Donald Trump, who was often critical of the alliance and member states.
“Of course, spending together is a way to invest in the bond between Europe and North America. NATO brings Europe and North America together every day,” Stoltenberg said, as he urged member states to increase funding.
The Pentagon’s Central Command, responsible for operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East, said that it had already completed up to 44 per cent of the US military’s withdrawal, reported The National News.
Biden has set September 11 as the deadline for all US personnel to be out of Afghanistan, officially ending America’s longest war, which began soon after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
According to The National News, on Wednesday, the NATO chief will head to London for talks with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. (ANI)
During the meeting, the foreign ministers of the three countries will exchange views on the key issues of the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan….reports Asian Lite News
Amid the drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan, the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan will discuss the Afghan peace process during a trilateral dialogue on Thursday.
During the meeting, the foreign ministers of the three countries will exchange views on the key issues of the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
“The minister will discuss the reconciliation process in Afghanistan, the trilateral practical cooperation as well as fighting terrorism. The trilateral dialogue mechanism is an important platform for strengthening mutual trust between the three countries,” said Wang Wenbin, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson during a press briefing on Wednesday.
The spokesperson claimed the withdrawal of US and NATO troops, amid the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan, has brought uncertainties in the region.
“At present, the unilateral withdrawal of US and NATO troops at the critical stage of the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan has brought uncertainties to Afghanistan’s domestic situation and regional security landscape,” he added.
Taliban attack at the peak in Afghanistan
Wang also expressed China’s confidence in the positive results of the upcoming meeting.
The trilateral dialogue mechanism of the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, Pakistan was created in 2017 at the initiative of the Chinese side. On May 18, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi offered Afghanistan to hold intra-Afghan talks in China, Sputnik reported.
Last month, China had blamed the United States’ “abrupt announcement of complete withdrawal of forces” for the succession of explosive attacks throughout Afghanistan, saying the step has worsened the security situation and has threatened peace and stability as well as people’s lives and safety in the war-torn country.
“It needs to be pointed out that the recent abrupt US announcement of complete withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan has led to a succession of explosive attacks throughout the country, worsening the security situation and threatening peace and stability as well as people’s lives and safety,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement.
In April, US President Joe Biden had announced the pullback of troops from Afghanistan. The withdrawal which started in the month of May is set to complete on September 11. (ANI)
An Afghan security official said the handover was expected in about 20 days and the defense ministry had set up special committees to manage it….reports Asian Lite News
As Washington speed-up to complete the withdrawal of its troops ahead of September 11, the US military will be handing over its main Bagram Air Base to Afghan forces in about 20 days, an official said on Tuesday.
“I can confirm we will hand over Bagram Air Base,” a US defense official told France-based news agency without specifying when the transfer would take place, reported Afghanistan Times.
An Afghan security official said the handover was expected in about 20 days and the defense ministry had set up special committees to manage it.
The base, the centre for nationwide command and air operations for the past two decades, also houses a prison that held thousands of Taliban and terrorists over the years, reported Afghanistan Times.
US troops in Afghanistan.
The vast base, built by the Soviets in the 1980s, is the biggest military facility used by US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, with tens of thousands of troops stationed there during the peak of America’s military involvement in the violence-wracked country.
Meanwhile, Washington has already handed over several military bases to Afghan forces before May 1, when it began accelerating the final withdrawal of troops, reported Afghanistan Times.
Last month it completed the withdrawal from Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan, once the second-largest foreign military base in the country.
The US withdrawal comes despite bloody clashes across the country between the Taliban and Afghan forces.
Peace talks were launched in September in Qatar, but so far have failed to strike any deal to end a war that has killed tens of thousands of people over nearly two decades. (ANI)
Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib said that Taliban leaders had not been in contact with their supreme leader for one year, reports Mrityunjoy Kumar Jha
The Taliban’s top leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada has been absent from important meetings and has not been seen in public for the last one year, triggering speculation about his physical status.
Citing the intelligence reports, Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib said during a press conference on Saturday that Taliban leaders had not been in contact with their supreme leader for one year.
“Taliban have had no contact with Mullah Haibatullah for the last 12 months. There is no information available whether he is alive or dead? No one had heard his voice and no one had met him. Intelligence information proves it,” the Pajhwok news quoted him saying.
According to senior Afghan intelligence, army and NATO officials, most decisions of the Taliban regarding peace and security are being taken by the group’s deputy leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the infamous Haqqani network, known for working hand-in-glove with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
But the Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid told Pajhwok Afghan News that Mullah Haibatullah was alive and was doing his job. Mujahid said that all their leaders and officials are in contact with the supreme leader. They take his advice on all important issues and share their reports with him.
Taliban
He added that Akhundzada is in a safe and secure place, and his absence in public was driven by security reasons.
There have been several reports that senior leaders of the Taliban are in a safe hideout near Quetta under the protection of the Pakistani army. Few weeks ago, members of the Taliban negotiating team had travelled to some undisclosed locations near Quetta for further consultations with their senior leaders, but the absence of the top leader’s name stood out.
Three months ago, there were media reports that Akhundzada had been killed in a bomb blast in a mosque in Quetta. His brother and a number of people of his seminary had apparently also suffered casualties in the incident, which is said to have taken place in April 2020.
The Taliban had rejected the report. Taliban leader Ahmadullah Wasiq said on Twitter: “This is false news and baseless rumours have no truth. Spreading such rumours and false news is a failed propaganda attempt by the enemy’s intelligence services. The enemy wants to hide its defeats in such rumours and distract the people’s minds.”
However, it is not unknown for the Taliban to hide the death of its leaders.
Mullah Omar’s death in Pakistan in 2013 was kept hidden from the public by the Taliban for about two years. The group confirmed the death in July 2015 only after Afghanistan’s spy agency went public with the development.
Mullah Omar’s successor, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, was killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan, in May 2016. Akhundzada was named the new head of the Taliban days later. He was previously the Taliban’s chief justice and most of the decisions and fatwas were made by him.
It is no secret that scores of top Afghan Taliban leaders are based in Pakistan. The top leadership council is called the “Quetta Shura” because most of its members are based in Quetta.
This year, Salaam Times raised the issue about the whereabouts of the Taliban supremo. It said that no voice clip of the Taliban’s leader had been released since a year and his Eid messages were all in written form.
(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)
Only individuals who have had the first shot are currently receiving jabs….reports Asian Lite News
Afghanistan is waiting for new deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines amid a surge in infections and a third wave of the pandemic, Health Ministry spokesman Dastagir Nazari said on Monday.
Nazari told dpa news agency that the process of vaccinating new people has been stopped in the country.
Only individuals who have had the first shot are currently receiving jabs.
The country with an estimated population of 37 million has so far received 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca jab from India and another 468,000 doses from the international vaccine-sharing programme COVAX.
The doses were used to vaccinate health workers, members of the armed forces, teachers and media staff.
The country is expected to receive another 700,000 doses of vaccines from China “in the near future” ,but there is no exact date for the deliveries, Nazari said.
Afghanistan is struggling to receive vaccines for the entire population.
The country is supposed to receive vaccines for a fifth of the population through COVAX.
For another 28 per cent of the population, Kabul has the budget to buy vaccines itself, Nazari said.
Vaccine (ANI)
The government was trying to get vaccines as soon as possible.
However, he added, “like the majority of the underdeveloped countries”, Afghanistan was confronted with the problem that there is massive global vaccine demand.
Recently, the country witnessed a surge in new infections with the virus.
Currently, of 1,500 intensive care beds for the whole country 72 per cent are already occupied by patients, according to the official.
Afghanistan’s current Covid-19 caseload and death toll stand at 70,761 and 2,919, respectively.
Taliban has besieged seven rural Afghan military outposts across the wheat fields and onion patches of the Laghman province, in eastern Afghanistan…reports Asian Lite News
Since the US troops began leaving Afghanistan since early May, there has been a wave of Afghan military surrendering to the Taliban in rural areas.
Taliban has besieged seven rural Afghan military outposts across the wheat fields and onion patches of the Laghman province, in eastern Afghanistan, reported The Frontier Post.
Ammunition was depleted inside the bedraggled outposts in Laghman province. Food was scarce. Some police officers hadn’t been paid in five months.
By mid-month, security forces had surrendered all seven outposts after extended negotiations, according to village elders. At least 120 soldiers and police were given safe passage to the government-held provincial center in return for handing over weapons and equipment.
Taliban enlisted village elders to visit the outposts bearing a message: Surrender or die.
Taliban
“We told them, ‘Look, your situation is bad — reinforcements aren’t coming,” said Nabi Sarwar Khadim, 53, one of several elders who negotiated the surrenders.
Since May 1, at least 26 outposts and bases in just four provinces — Laghman, Baghlan, Wardak and Ghazni — have surrendered after such negotiations, according to village elders and government officials, reported The Frontier Post.
With morale diving as US troops leave, and the Taliban seizing on each surrender as a propaganda victory, each collapse feeds the next in the Afghan countryside.
Among the negotiated surrenders were four district centers, which house local governors, police and intelligence chiefs — effectively handing the government facilities to Taliban control and scattering the officials there, at least temporarily.
The Taliban have negotiated Afghan troop surrenders in the past, but never at the scale and pace of the base collapses this month in the four provinces extending east, north and west of Kabul.
The tactic has removed hundreds of government forces from the battlefield, secured strategic territory and reaped weapons, ammunition and vehicles for the Taliban — often without firing a shot, reported The Frontier Post.
Taliban
The base collapses are one measure of the rapidly deteriorating government war effort as one outpost after another falls, sometimes after battles, but often after wholesale surrenders.
The surrenders are part of a broader Taliban playbook of seizing and holding territory as security force morale plummets with the exit of international troops. Buyoffs of local police and militia. Local cease-fires that allow the Taliban to consolidate gains. A sustained military offensive despite pleas for peace talks and a nationwide cease-fire, reported The Frontier Post.
“The government is not able to save the security forces,” said Mohammed Jalal, a village elder in Baghlan province. “If they fight, they will be killed, so they have to surrender.”
The surrenders are the work of Taliban Invitation and Guidance Committees, which intervene after insurgents cut off roads and supplies to surrounded outposts.
Committee leaders or Taliban military leaders phone base commanders — and sometimes their families — and offer to spare troops’ lives if they surrender their outposts, weapons and ammunition.
In several cases, the committees have given surrendering troops money — typically around USD 130 — and civilian clothes and sent them home unharmed. But first they videotape the men as they promise not to rejoin the security forces. They log their phone numbers and the names of family members — and vow to kill the men if they rejoin the military, reported The Frontier Post.
“The Taliban commander and the Invitation and Guidance Committee called me more than 10 times and asked me to surrender,” said Maj. Imam Shah Zafari, 34, a district police chief in Wardak province who surrendered his command center and weapons on May 11 after negotiations mediated by local elders.
Taliban attack at the peak in Afghanistan
After the Taliban provided a car ride home to Kabul, he said, a committee member phoned to assure him that the government would not imprison him for surrendering. “He said, ‘We have so much power in the government and we can release you,” Zafari said.
The Taliban committees take advantage of a defining characteristic of Afghan wars: Fighters and commanders regularly switch sides, cut deals, negotiate surrenders and cultivate village elders for influence with local residents.
The current conflict is really dozens of local wars. These are intimate struggles, where brothers and cousins battle one another and commanders on each side cajole, threatened and negotiated by cellphone, reported The Frontier Post.
“A Taliban commander calls me all the time, trying to destroy my morale, so that I’ll surrender,” said Wahidullah Zindani, 36, a bearded, sunburned police commander who has rejected Taliban demands to surrender his nine-man, bullet-pocked outpost in Laghman province.
The negotiated surrenders are part of a broader offensive in which the Taliban have surrounded at least five provincial capitals this spring, according to a Pentagon inspector general report released May 18.
The offensive has intensified since the US withdrawal began May 1. The Taliban have used their control of several major highways to cut off bases and garrisons, leaving them vulnerable. (ANI)
US soldiers prepare to depart from Kunduz, Afghanistan. (Brian Harris Planet Pix ZUMA_dpa_IANS)
Pentagon officials have said that the US has completed up to 25 per cent of the entire withdrawal process, reports Asian Lite News
A key military US base called the New Kabul Compound (NKC) has been handed over to the Afghan forces, the Ministry of Defence announced.
Fawad Aman, a spokesman for the Ministry, said that at a ceremony on the occasion on Friday, US and NATO forces commander Gen. Scott Miller emphasised the international community’s continued support to Afghan forces, reports TOLO News.
The withdrawal of the US and NATO forces from the country started on May 1.
According to figures provided by US Central Command, the Pentagon has so far removed the equivalent of approximately 160 C-17 loads of material out of Afghanistan and has turned over more than 10,000 pieces of equipment to the Defense Logistics Agency for disposition.
The figures also show that the US had by last week officially handed over five facilities to the Ministry of Defence.
Pentagon officials have said that the US has completed up to 25 per cent of the entire withdrawal process.
Violence however, remains high in the country, especially after the three-day ceasefire from May 13-15.
The Ministry of Defence on Saturday said that at least 210 Taliban were killed in clashes and defensive operations by Afghan forces in 18 provinces, including Kabul, in the last 24 hours.
As the Taliban become increasingly assertive in the ongoing peace talks and potentially set to govern the country again someday, it is vital that New Delhi carves a channel for diplomatic dealings, writes Hollie McKay
As the United States prepares to pull out the entirety of its remaining 2,500 troops from Afghanistan (Liptak, 2021) – a move fast being followed by NATO allies in the war-tattered nation (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation [NATO], 2021a, 2021b) – the onus for security and stability will fall on the regions neighbours.
However, this is a window of opportunity in which India can lead the way. It will not be an easy or simple process. As the Taliban become increasingly assertive in the ongoing peace talks and potentially set to govern the country again someday, it is vital that New Delhi carves a channel for diplomatic dealings.
So far there have been some evident efforts in that direction. Indian officials are taking an increasingly visible role in the various meetings concerning Afghanistan’s future, of which Taliban members have been party. New Delhi will attend the ten-day Istanbul conference starting this week (Aljazeera, 2021; Did Press Agency, 2021).
Of course, India’s history with the Taliban – for instance when it was poised at the Kabul helm from 1996 to 2001 – has been a turbulent one. This is not surprising given the Taliban’s protracted policy of directly and indirectly supporting Pakistani terrorist groups, a policy which has resulted among other things in various skirmishes in Jammu and Kashmir.
Moreover, it is hard to forget the painful hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight in 1999 by five Taliban gunmen, resulting in one passenger being fatally stabbed and 17 being wounded (Joshi, 2020). Allegations of involvement by the Pakistani ISI inflamed the aftermath.
And certainly, the Taliban’s perchance for violence and the ruthless targeting of both Afghan forces and civilians in recent years reminds all the sobering reality that their overarching tactical approach remains unchanged. Furthermore and of course, India’s leaders cannot enthusiastically align with a political faction that ideologically limits the education and vocational opportunities for women and endorses extremist values that amount to violence and terrorism.
The diplomatic dance with the Taliban must therefore be delicate, but not dismissive. Uncomfortable facts are facts nonetheless, and India will need to work with the reality on the ground if – or when – the Taliban resume a potent palace position.
On the plus side, the Taliban’s top brass has not – for some two decades – made explicit anti-New Delhi threats. They were swift to release, following quiet negotiations, the seven captured Indian engineers working in Afghanistan three years ago (The Economic Times, 2019).
The organisation has also refrained from sabotaging or attacking India-backed development projects in Afghanistan – all of which should be perceived as positive tools for the communications arsenal. The success in this area may have stemmed in large part from New Delhi’s non-militarized Afghan strategy.
Rather than bolstering Kabul’s security endeavours with boots on the ground, India’s lawmakers instead opted for a “soft power” approach – focusing its support spending on economic and infrastructure projects, as well as community-centric development and humanitarian aid. The war-splattered nation is the second-largest beneficiary of Indian assistance (Vivek, 2017), shoring up a positive perception of India among much of the Afghan citizenry – a critical puzzle piece for future influence in the embattled nation.
Indeed, India has built up a robust portfolio of strategic interests in Afghanistan – despite its conflicts and volatility. A good example is the $100 million enlargement of the Chabahar port (Zee News, 2014) to serve as an import-export core between Central Asia and Afghanistan.
By opting to play a more pervasive part in Afghanistan, India also stands to secure even closer strategic ties to the United States. Washington has vowed to maintain its diplomatic and humanitarian endeavours in Afghanistan after the military exit, and President Biden has expressed a desire to see neighbouring nations play more prominent roles.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price announced this month that Secretary Antony Blinken and his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar would work together in advocating Afghanistan cohesion. This of course constitutes the outgrowth of a long and trusting affinity (The Week, 2021).
India can also coordinate its strategy and act as something of an interlocutor for all countries directly impacted by security affairs in Afghanistan – China, Russia, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar and beyond.
Moreover, the likes of ISIS-K, the Da’esh outfit operating on Afghan terrain, appears relatively small at this stage; there are an estimated 19 other terrorist outfits thought to have a footprint inside the country (Arian, 2017). The Taliban may, in the end, turn out to be a necessary bastion against groups that pose threats both within and outside of Afghanistan’s borders.
However, when assuming responsibilities, India must also be mindful of maintaining a healthy distance from Kabul’s internal security affairs – ramping up developmental support with the goal of long-term stability while giving space for Afghanistan to grow and take shape on its own.
And even though it remains to be seen whether the Taliban takes an increased focus on the contentious Kashmir issue, Suhail Shaheen – a representative for the Taliban’s political wing in Afghanistan – has previously taken to Twitter to espouse that in their policy it “is clear that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.” (Gupta, 2020)
For its part, another spokesperson for the Taliban’s political wing – officially termed the Islamic Emirate – also pledged (Gupta 2021) this past week that its foreign policy would “seek positive relations with all its neighbours” on the basic principles of “respect and interaction” (Gupta, 2021).
“The Islamic Emirate does not allow anyone to use the soil of Afghanistan against another country, group or individual. It should also be made clear that the Islamic Emirate will never allow anyone to turn the soil of Afghanistan into an arena of proxy conflicts and disputes,” spokesperson Muhammad Naeem Wardak told CNN News18’s Manoj Gupta (Gupta, 2021), while also doubling down that they do not intend to interfere in any cross-border disputes, including those involving Pakistan.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan calls on all to assist the Afghan people in achieving independence and freedom, in the light of the values of the people, in the establishment of an independent Islamic system and the reconstruction of the country.”
Thus, while India cannot control who takes power in Kabul, it is in India’s best interests to keep the door open to whomever wins the stakes in the months and years to come. Keeping in mind the Taliban’s tenacity over the past two decades of US occupation, and the fact that it is a force which is here to stay.
(The writer a war crimes investigator and author of “Only Cry for the Living: Memos from Inside the ISIS Battlefield”. The view expressed are personal)
